Profile of Success, Marion, September 07
When Life Takes a Turn for the Better: Profiles of Success
By Marion Webb
It's never too late to start exercising. Exercise is the key to losing weight and feeling energized. Working with a personal trainer can help keep clients accountable.
Sounds cliché?
May be-Considering that the voices behind these messages keep getting louder as the nation's obesity rates among children and adults continue their alarming upward trend.
According to a study released in 2006 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the national obesity rate is now roughly 32 percent. A lack of exercise is a significant contributing factor.
People who are overweight and obese put themselves at greater risk for developing chronic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which are costly to treat.
And while most individuals are aware of the risks, and may even contemplate changing their lifestyles, few actually make a change. According to the CDC, 50 percent of American adults don't exercise enough to reap health benefits; 24 percent are inactive.
Granted, change is tough, but not impossible.
In this article, two unique individuals-a 50-year old severely overweight woman and a 84-year old male-share their personal stories about how they transitioned from couch potatoes to regular exercisers.
Their hope is that their personal stories will inspire others to make a positive change.
It's Never too Late to Start Exercising
At 330 pounds, Eileen used to have to take a nap after running errands. When she accidentally dropped something on the floor, she used wait for her husband to pick it up. If someone would have told her back in 2004 that exercising would become part of her daily routine, she probably would have laughed.
But hiring Jonathan Ross, 2006 ACE Personal Trainer of the Year, who has guided the now 50-year old retiree through exercise programs after two knee surgeries, and even managed to take the dread out of the words health club, gave Eileen exactly the push she needed.
"I wouldn't be exercising if it wasn't for Jonathan," says Eileen, who asked not to disclose her full name. "I have always been heavy and had no interest in going to the gym or even teaching myself how to exercise."
She first ran across Ross in an article by The Washingtonian, a magazine focusing on the Washington-DC metropolitan area. "The article talked about what you should be looking for in a personal trainer and featured Jonathan," Eileen recalls.
It would take months to act on her impulse to contact Jonathan, whose personal training business Aion Fitness was conveniently located near her Bowie, Md. residence. When she finally got around to phoning Ross, he told her it would take another few months to clear his schedule. This wasn't bad news to her at all.
During their introductory meeting at her home, Eileen didn't mince words either: "I told him I am totally exercise-averse and I'll doubt I'll ever like exercising, but I need to do something." She anticipated some defensiveness, but found understanding and kindness.
"He didn't set me up for failure. He didn't judge me or make guarantees that I'll love exercise. He didn't say you have to lose weight (which would have ended the deal for her). He simply took me at face value," she recalls.
They agreed to train once a week at her home. With Eileen just having had knee replacement surgery two months prior and having been scheduled for surgery on the other knee, Ross wanted to remain sensitive to her low stamina while focusing on building strength and stability in both legs as fast as her body would allow it.
He started the program with simple leg exercises using resistive tubes and the stability ball, mostly performing single plane movements using her body weight or light resistance.
After less than three months of regular physical activity, Eileen recalls feeling rejuvenated and energized. She had gained so much strength that the physical therapist sent her home early after her second knee replacement.
Six weeks post-surgery, Ross and Eileen resumed their regimen and progressed quickly doing weights and cardio training. Eileen says it took a lot of convincing to get her to use dumbbells, which are now her favorite exercise tools. "I love my dumbbells now, and use them about three times a week doing different exercises," she says.
It took even more nudging on Ross' part to persuade Eileen to perform cardio work. Since she hates walking, Eileen opted to buy an adult tricycle (three wheels to prevent falls and maintain her balance) and even joined a local health club to perform water aerobics.
She spends two to three hours doing various cardio exercises a week, but still prefers exercising solo vs. group exercise.
In addition, Ross designed an at-home staircase aerobics routine, including push-ups and leg lifts, to raise her heart rate.
Every day after she wakes up, Eileen walks down the stairs, drinks her cup of coffee and reads the newspaper. But she thinks twice about walking back upstairs to shower.
"I feel guilty if I pass the stairs without doing aerobics," she says.
Far from being an exercise enthusiast, Eileen still forces herself daily to exercise. But the fear of returning to her old life of physical limitations where she was unable to perform such simple tasks as standing up straight, bending over, cooking dinner and doing housework, keep her motivated to continue to "just do it."
Watching both her mother and mother-in-law struggle before and after hip replacement surgery also serves as a constant reminder of the importance of being active.
"I didn't want to end up like that," she says.
Seemingly proud of how far she's come with personal training, Eileen recently spent a 12-hour day laboring with her husband to prepare their house for a sale.
"I would have never been able to do that without exercise," she says.
For those still contemplating how to get started, Eileen offers some encouragement: "If I can do it, anybody can do it. No matter what stage you are in your life, you can exercise."
She also prides herself in no longer relying on her husband to clean up her messes.
"I recently dropped something on the floor, and when I picked it up I realized I did a squat-I now have this mind-body connection and I owe it all to Jonathan."
A Recovering "Exercise Quitter's" Long Road to Success
John Baldi used to be a perpetual quitter. He would train with ACE-certified Personal Trainer Skip Tull at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Mass. for a few months, abruptly abandon him, and then, sign up again. For 10 years, the now 84-year old Baldi and Tull's relationship was marked by an on-again, off-again cycle. It wasn't until 2003 that Baldi decided to make a real change.
"He was one of the most stubborn, resistant persons I have ever met," says Tull about Baldi's exercise history. Baldi admits that in his 60s when his health began to deteriorate, he relinquished himself to "sitting around and getting old." He didn't just get older. As the symptoms of his health conditions, including diabetes, degenerative disk disease and arthritis, worsened, his emotional and physical pain grew deeper.
His wife stood by him as Baldi closed the book on their once active and fun life.
She cried on Tull's shoulder for help, but he had no comeback for Baldi's endless list of excuses.
"The first time he fell off the wagon, it was because he had an appointment. But then it became one thing after another: He had to stay in the shop, see the doctor, the dentist or (couldn't make it) because it was the holidays. When I saw him on the streets, he'd say 'I'll call you soon' or 'it's a busy time.'"
Tull recalls Baldi's wife telling him "Suddenly I am married to an old man.' Up until then, the couple's 20-year age difference was never an issue. Their passion for diving ran deep. Now she woke up to tying her husband's shoe laces, picking up after him, and receiving more bad news from the doctor's office.
"For a man of his stature it was a blow," Tull says. Perennial lapses resulting in clients trading the gym floor for the living room couch are more common than trainers would like to admit.
"As it is common with people of his generation, as soon as they start functioning well, they feel they don't have to exercise any more and stop," says Tull. In his 22-year career at the South Shore YMCA and 17 years of personal training, he has seen his share of quitters.
But Baldi broke the exercise mold. It took surviving coronary stent surgery and hearing his doctor's bleak prognosis for a recovery, which he blamed on a sedentary lifestyle, that Baldi finally saw the light.
As with all new beginnings, change was tough. During the first month he trained with Tull three times a week, recalling a lot of physical discomfort. However, already in the second month of sticking to this routine, Baldi reaped the rewards for his hard work.
"The weight-training made a huge difference," he recalls. "A big improvement was that I didn't worry about my back any more. I could get up in the morning without having a sore back."
Since Baldi committed to a combined program of weight-training, aerobic exercise and stretching, he also no longer suffers arthritis pain in his fingers and shoulders. He even holds bragging rights for "outlifting" gym goers half of his age.
His three-day weekly routine looks like this: 10-minute stationary bike; 8 minutes of stretching exercises; 45 minutes of weight-lifting using multiple Nautilus machines; 1 mile to 1.5 miles of walking around the YMCA, followed by a cool-down.
Baldi vows he's a recovering quitter.
"You have to have a commitment," he says. But he's quick to credit Tull for keeping him injury-free and helping him progress at the appropriate pace.
"What makes Skip special is that he knows what he's doing," Baldi says. "If I worked out on my own, I may try to use 110 pounds on a machine, then go to 115 pounds and hurt myself. When I work out, Skip puts me in the right position and makes notes of everything I do."
At home, Baldi's wife still keeps a close eye on her husband's renewed commitment to a healthier life. During January through April, when the couple flocks south to the warmer Florida climate, she pushes him to follow his routine at the local gym. Baldi is grateful for his wife's tough love.
"Her support is really important," he says.
Contrary to many of his peers at the YMCA who work out among themselves in their own separate space, Baldi enjoys the company of younger people in the bigger space.
"People my own age just don't work out the same way I do," Baldi says. "I'm with younger people all the time. It's a great motivator for me to know that I can perform as well as someone in their 30s, 40s and 50s."
Looking back at his exercising rollercoaster ride, Baldi swears he'll never fall off the wagon again.
"I look at people my own age. They mope around and walk stooped over. You ask them how they feel and they say 'not good.' I just don't want to feel that way."
He credits his active lifestyle for having a healthy heart now. His wife tells him that Tull saved his life. Exercise has become Baldi's fountain of youth.
"I'm 84 years old and I think I am in better shape now than when I was at age 60."